Politics

Seoul Not Planning to Hold Talks with North During Brunei ARF

Write : 2013-06-25 17:10:03Update : 2013-06-25 17:13:39

Seoul's Foreign Ministry says that it has no plans to hold ministerial talks with North Korea on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tae-young told a regular briefing Tuesday that North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun is expected to attend the forum in Brunei next Tuesday. However, the spokesman said Seoul is not making plans to hold a separate meeting with him for now.

The spokesman did not completely rule out contact with the North, saying Seoul has already proposed talks with Pyongyang, and that the door to dialogue is always open.

Cho also denied a foreign news report that the U.S. will hold a high-level contact with the North on the sidelines of the forum in Brunei. He said Seoul is in close consultation with Washington and the report is not true.